


Paint My Fate

by zeleanorfics



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU, Character Death, F/M, Minor Perrie Edwards/Zayn Malik, Prison, one direction - Freeform, they dont even do anything, zeleanor - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-16
Updated: 2015-01-16
Packaged: 2018-03-07 13:41:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3175156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zeleanorfics/pseuds/zeleanorfics
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn has to sketch a murder suspect and he didn't expect much else. Eleanor didn't expect her last days spent being drawn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Paint My Fate

**Author's Note:**

> from a prompt on yourfuckedupotp on tumblr.

Zayn was woken up at 3 am on Sunday morning and he was utterly fucking confused. 

He groaned at the sound of his cell phone going off, loud blaring filling his bedroom. He could feel the deep sleep still in his eyes. Not like he was planning on opening them anyways. 

"Fucks sake Zayn!" His fiancee shouted from the right of him. He groaned even louder, trying to block out the both of them, which was proven to be impossible. 

He flinched away, feeling Perrie kick around the bed, searching for him to punish instead of the bedsheets. "Zayn!" She shouted, her voice reaching it's loudest, screechiest point.

Zayn only wondered for a moment about which sound was worse, and the fact that the phone lost that fight was saying so much to him right now. He sat up, in the most defiant way possible, shoving all of the covers off of him and they bunched up at his ankles.

Which ended up being a mistake because Perrie pulled them on herself instead, covering all the way up to her chin. Fucks sake. Can't he have just one night dedicated to sleep instead of...whatever the fuck was happening right now.

He exhaled through his nose in complete exasperation. He thrust his arm out and smacked it down against the bedside table, hoping to either break his phone or answer it without effort.

Unfortunately, he was just met with the wood of the tabletop. He groaned again, annoyance filling him up to the very brim. He finally turned over in bed, his body stretching uncomfortably.

"You know what time it is?" He asks to, whoever the fuck was on the other line. Three am was never necessarily a time of the day that you received any good phone calls.

"Sorry to wake you so early Zayn. We're gonna need you down at the station." Zayn listened to Liam speak quickly, like this was something too important.

It didn't make any sense to him. He was a fucking sketch artist there for god sakes. Who did he need to draw at three on a Sunday? Certainly this could wait until eight on Monday.

"It's three, Liam..." He spoke out, even though he and Liam both knew what damn time it was. Perrie stirred again next to him, little huffs and puffs coming from her side.

"I would tell you to turn on a damn news network or something but I just need you to get here. Now." And then the line cut off, he obviously hung up on him. Clearly, someone robbed a fucking gas station and the owner needs retribution now.

Zayn couldn't believe this was happening to him. He was a sleep person. Not a fucking teenage child who could wake up at any hour and be a dickhead. Zayn needed it to be at least nine to act as a functional human being.

His body stretched out in the most uncomfortable way possible as he turned towards the table, dropping his phone back down without a worry.

His legs draped over the side of the bed, his feet touching the cool carpet. His hand reached up and stroked his dark hair down, a method he uses to calm himself. Before, you know, screaming in boiling hot rage.

He feels the bed shift underneath him, knowing it's Perrie. "Whats going on?" She asks, her voice drenched in sleep. He expects to answer like a person but instead it's some incoherent grumbling.

"Okay." She answers, watching him clobber out of the bed, almost stumbling over nothing. Or himself. Either way, embarrassing.

"Stupid fucking-" he cuts himself off, switching on the closet light, filling half of the room with dim light. He braced himself for the light to completely blind him.

He yanks the door open, comparing it to a band aid. Might as well tear it off. He squinted his eyes and made his way in, not thinking on his outfit much.

What would they honestly be expecting from him anyways? He picked up a TShirt from the floor and a random pair of dark jeans. He almost thought long enough about what the weather could be like right now to get a jacket or something but didn't.

He pulled the clothes on quickly, and stumbled into the bathroom, one of his ankles hooking on his jeans trying to kill him in the process. His feet padded against the tiled floor, and he flicked on the light switch 

He glanced himself over in the mirror, and God. He was a mess. Normally he would never be caught dead leaving his house looking like this but what choice did he have? None. The correct answer is none.

He sighed in defeat before turning the light off again, and abandoning the bathroom all together. He pulled some gum out of the drawer in the end table and shoved it in his mouth. He just doesn't have the energy to live right now.

"I'll be at work." He mumbles to Perrie, even though she might be passed out again. It's the thought that counts. He pulls his shoes on, and groans after almost falling over twice.

Today was going to be "one of those days" and it has just barely begun.

~

Zayn pushed the thin metal door open, the door too cool to the touch for him. He could tell something was different. The lady at the desk wasn't smiling, and there was no one else up front right now.

He walked over to her, his shoes squeaking against the newly waxed floors. He mentally cursed himself for not remembering her name after all this time. He glanced down at her name tag, shame filling him.

"Jesy?" He asks, loud enough to get her attention but not loud enough to startle her. Her head snapped up, hair going everywhere. "There you are, Liam is looking for ya." She answers simply, no alarms going off in her tone.

He shifts his weight from leg to leg nervously. Things were weird. "Where is everyone?" He asks, his voice breaking the silence around them, yet again.

Her eyes crinkle with confusion. She looked like she couldn't believe he asked that. "You haven't heard about what happened? Everyone's on Main. Triple homicide..." She answers quietly, her lips forming a deep frown.

His eyes widen a little at the news. "Shit." He whispers, and she nods, apparently in agreement. He definitely felt dumb about that gas station thing he said earlier.

"He in his office or?" He asks, heading off in a direction. Jesy nods, returning to whatever she was doing on her computer before Zayn had interrupted her.

He watches his feet as he walks down the short hallway and towards the back offices. Zayn stops when he gets to a door with a large plague that says "PAYNE" on the front.

He forms a loose fist and raps on the door softly, his tired feeling returning and settling in the pit of his stomach. He was not ready to do this. Not right now. 

He stands there patiently for a minute, his hands stuffing themselves in his pockets to escape the cold of the building. "Zayn!" He hears for behind him.

He turns sharply, looking around before spotting Liam with his head sticking out of the door neartest behind him. He walks towards him, his pace faster than it had been ten minutes ago.

"C'mon, there's a witness in the room." Liam tells him, holding the door open for Zayn to slip past him quickly."Let me catch you up," he begins, chest puffing out as he takes in a deep breath.

"There was a triple homicide on Main, a man and two kids. Whoever did it tried burning the house down afterwards, big fucking mess." He sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose to reduce some kind of stress there.

"We think it was the guy's ex fiancee, she was supposed to pick the kids up on Wednesday last week but didn't." He looks around, some sort of paranoia twitch he has.

"The kid- witness, we have was sneaking in late and he saw someone leave the home, just get a picture and we can get this started." Zayn nodded, trying to make sure he heard everything.

Liam speed walks past Zayn, leading past about four other officers and into a large dark room in the back where he usually does these sketches. "This couldn't wait?" He asks before Liam has the chance to open the door.

He tilts his head in confusion before rolling his eyes at him. "No. It's fresh in his mind. This needs to happen now." Liam has a look on his face that says 'question me again and you're going to be finding a new job' so Zayn lets him open the door.

He's already awake and here so, might as well. 

The large door squeaks open, and there's a large table bolted to the floor in the very middle of the dense room. A couple of lights are turned on instead of the usual one so Zayn can see his sketch.

A man sits at one end of the table, he's nervous. His leg is shaking and he's got his hands folded together on the tabletop. He looks relatively young, so this could honestly go two ways. Quick, or not so fucking quick.

Liam closed the door after he and Zayn entered, the loud sound made the teenager in the chair jump. It would be funnier if Zayn wasn't so fucking tired still.

"Danny, this is Zayn, he's gonna ask you some questions if that's okay." Liam tells the kid in a sensitive tone. This kid was definitely a witness to something. Zayn felt kind of bad for him. Even worse than being in a police station for work at three, was being in a police station for a crime you witnessed at three.

Zayn pulled the chair out, and sat down in front of his stuff (new notepad, some pencils, and extra erasers). Zayn knew this could take awhile, usually the witness says some shit like, "I can't remember" "I didn't see" or "their face wasn't clear". 

Liam looked at Zayn and watched him flip open to a middle page in his notebook. "Want me to stay in or wait the the 'O Room'?" He asks, already moving towards the door regardless.

Zayn waves him off, a yawn slipping out while doing so. Liam exits the room and Zayn guesses he probably went around to the observation room immediately.

The large door slams shut behind him and Zayn sighs, glancing at the kid across from him. "Uh, Danny, right?" He asks, even though he knows the answer is yes.

He does that to start a conversation with them easy. It's so fucking tedious right now, but he sees the kids shoulders loosen and he's not so stiff anymore.

"Yeah...the, uh "witness" I guess. I didn't really see much."

All he can think is, "of course you didn't". Obviously there's no point in saying that out loud, for many reasons, but the most obvious one being that it'd be a waste of Zayn's precious time.

"Okay, so did you see if it was anyone you know?" He picks up one of his new, freshly sharpened pencils, and places it over the pad, letting it hover. Ah hope, the ruiner of lives.

"Oh. I don't know. It was kind of dark outside... I know it was a lady? She had long hair." He then leans forward to look at Zayn's notepad.

Zayn sighs deeply and puts his pencil back down, the table making a banging sound with the pencil smacking against it.

"...Aren't you supposed to draw it-her, or something?" Danny asks, and yes, Zayn knows he's not doing this to torture him, but fuck. 

"I can't actually draw her when all you're giving me is "long hair" you know. Quite a few amount of women have long hair, Danny." Danny sighs, his chest rising and falling with it.

"All I saw was the back of her though. She was skinny, with long hair and she was carrying a purse. That's all I can tell you." He explains, reaching his hands up and tugging at his hair.

Zayn doesn't feel like watching this kid go through a mental break down so he starts drawing the back of a woman. "How skinny?" He asks before starting on her legs. "Skinny skinny."

Zayn scoffs, he thinks that's just code for very skinny. So he draws a skinny woman, her legs with a space in between them. "Small purse, or large purse?" He questions, starting on the strap first.

"It was thin, you know?" And no, he doesn't know but he nods along anyways, he can feel his head start to ache with the feeling of being here. It feels like hell.

"The only woman that I've seen at that house before was Andy's girlfriend, or something." He speaks quietly, watching Zayn draw. Zayn stops for a second and looks back up at him.

He sighs and flips the paper over to a new, blank sheet. Zayn thrusts his hand out, "Okay...can you describe her? Just in case you know." He explains, trying to get the kid to give him something, anything.

"Uh, yeah okay." He starts, shifting in the chair nervously. "I don't remember her name but, she had wavy, long brown hair. Her nose was kind of big. She had uh...thin lips, green eyes, she was really pretty."

Zayn rolled his eyes. "Pretty" wasn't really necessary for him to say in this situation, but whatever. He was still too tired to tell him to shut up.

The two of them sat in complete silence, he didn't know exactly how to draw the shape of her face, but he goes with thin, due to the "skinny skinny" comment from him earlier.

Zayn finishes the small curve of her lips and turns the pad around, showing it to Danny. "Any similarity?" He asks him, hoping for a good answer.

Danny nods, his hair bouncing around him. "Yeah, looks like her a little." 

Zayn nods back, pulling his pad back and taking a deep breath. He shoves his chair away from him and stands up, his knees popping.

"Thanks, man." He speaks softly, meaning two different things with that statement. One being, thanks for helping and two being, thanks for making me be here asshole.

~

Once Zayn got home he turned the news on, wanting to see as much about this as possible. He sat down in the living room, not wanting to wake Perrie.

There was a man at the news desk who spoke about it first. "A triple homicide down on Main street has the police surrounding the home. Police have been searching for a main suspect. Whoever it was obviously had close ties to the family. We'll keep everyone posted. Now to John with the weather for the week."

Zayn clicked the TV off immediately afterwards. It gave him nothing. What he did know was, Danny had thought it looked like a woman. And he said the only woman that he's seen there was the guy's ex fiancee.

Zayn stretched his body out on the couch, trying to relax himself. He can think on it tomorrow, or not, it wasn't even his job. He might as well relax and sleep.

He shut his eyes, finally and sleep eventually just took him. Peace at fucking last.

~

Zayn went in on Monday morning as well, this time at a more reasonable work schedule. Before he could even settle in Liam called him into his office, voice stern and commanding.

Zayn trudged there, slow and steady. "Yeah?" He asks him, pushing Liam's door open gently, not wanting to smack it against the wall or anything.

"We're gonna head down to the office, we got Eleanor Calder in for questioning. Can you go get Danny up front?" Zayn titled his head, confused and slightly curious.

"Whos Eleanor?" He asks, letting the curiosity take over him. Liam stands up, walking towards the door with Zayn. "The prime suspect of the homicide. She was Andy's girlfriend. She was in fucking Arizona when they found her." 

Zayn scoffed, exiting the room with Liam closely behind him. They parted different ways down the hall as he went to get Danny. 

He entered the lobby and glanced at Jesy briefly before seeing Danny sitting in one of the waiting chairs pushed up against the wall. Zayn called his name and motioned for him to follow him, which the boy did.

"Why am I here?" He asked Zayn as they made their way back, walking in silence up until now. "Probably for proof of identification. Why I'm here is the real question." He told him, stopping in front of the observation room.

Zayn saw his hesitation as he held the door open for him. Clearly he was terrified of something happening to him.

Zayn sighed, why was this kid making his job so fucking difficult for him? "No one on the other side can see or hear you in here." He informed him, his voice dull.

"Oh." He spoke softly, feeling foolish most likely. He finally stepped inside the small room with a large window made of specially tinted glass.

Liam beckoned them to stand next to him. Which they obliged.

He gestured towards the glass and Danny faced it, looking in carefully. Zayn saw two officers standing in the room next to someone sitting in one of the chairs. They guarded her. Or guarded anyone from her.

He looked at the girl in the chair, watching her closely for some reason. She was sitting hunched over, her head faced down, her face covered by her hair. It was long and disheveled, like she just ran a mile. Her arms were thin and her hands were hidden underneath the table.

"Zayn." He heard his name and snapped out of the trance. He just wanted to see her face. Just wanted to see if he got anything right in his sketch. It would just bug the shit out of him if he didn't.

"What?" He asks, looking back at Liam. "Can you get your sketch?" He asks, pointing over at the glass. And oh yeah... Zayn left his notepad lying on the table in the room.

The last thing on this planet he wanted to do was walk over there. Zayn didn't normally have to be anywhere near the real criminals. He just drew them from someone else's memory. That's the way he would like it to stay actually.

He almost said "why me?" but chose to keep quiet instead. The last thing he needed to do to Liam was stress him out by resisting and acting like a child.

"Fine." He mumbles, shoving one of his hands in his jacket pocket, trying to contain himself. He shuffles towards the door, and pushes it open, trying to not think about what's on the other side.

He enters the room with the woman and the officers. The door closing behind him and the sound of it slamming shut fills his ears. It rings in them. His brain tricks him into thinking it's louder than usual. It's nerve racking.

The woman, Eleanor- he remembers Liam calling her, doesn't move from her position. Her head stays down, and her hands stay hidden.

He keeps his eyes averted regardless, he doesn't want her to look up and suddenly see him staring at her. He didn't know much about Eleanor, but he knew she might've killed three people.

He strides over to the complete other side of the table to reach for his pad, the page still open from the night before.

"You got my eyes wrong." He flinched back, dropping the pad back down on the table, his eyes widening in fear or maybe shock. Either way, shit.

Zayn opens his mouth to say something, but he decides to shut his mouth again. No way is he gonna fuck his life up by saying something stupid. He wasn't going to bitch about it, he didn't exactly get a detailed description anyways.

"Well I didn't have much to go on." He mumbles, picking up his pad again. And why does it suddenly feel like his balls are squeezing together. Why did he say something? He's an idiot on Monday's. Or something like that.

It itched at him though. How she said he got her eyes wrong. It felt like he needed to defend his work in some type of way. His pride will end him some day.

She lifted her head up with a smile, her eyes were wider than he expected, they were a soft green with brown flecks. They were, well, fucking beautiful. Despite who she was and all. 

She giggled, her mouth opening slightly with it. It was light and airy, like she was at a fucking carnival instead of a police station. 

"Well, you can't win every game now can you?" She asks him, her thin shoulders shrugging. Her smile was bright and Zayn was oddly charmed. "I could've done it had I seen your eyes already." He argues, his tone light instead of angry.

"Oh I bet-" "Sir," one of the officers interrupt her, an irritated look on his face. And Zayn understands. What the fuck was he doing anyways? 

He nodded and looked back down at her, she still looked as pleasant as she did a second before. "Anyways, can you look towards that wall, please?" He asks her, not waiting for an answer and instead exiting the room.

He hears a "Why sure." Before leaving. He feels utterly idiotic right now. Why would he strike up a damn conversation with her? He could've ruined everything that way.

He 're enters the observation room, mentally cursing himself for being stupid. Liam nods at him as he stands at the spot next to Danny once again.

"Okay Danny. Can you tell me if you know her?" He asks, and Zayn watches the two of them look her over. "Yeah, that was Andy's girlfriend! I remember her name now, Eleanor!" He speaks, and all they needed was a confirmation of her identity by anyone. This was key.

Just then Eleanor spoke, loud enough for them all to hear. "I'm going to need my lawyer now if you don't mind!" Her voice sounded pleasant. Zayn hated it. It bugged him. She shouldn't be so warm, it was strange.

"Bitch." Liam mumbled, walking past Zayn and stomping out of the room, commanding the two officers to take her somewhere, probably to a phone.

Zayn glanced down at his pad, looking over the image of Eleanor he had drawn prior to seeing her in person. She was absolutely one hundred percent correct. The eyes he drew were so wrong.

~

"How was work?" Perrie asked, glancing over at him from her spot on he couch, her feet tucked under her blanket. He sighed, feeling the folded up paper in his pocket.

"Fine. I'm just so damn tired." He explains, his eyes fluttering for a dramatic effect. What a drama queen he was, honestly.

Perrie eyed him with sad, puppy dog eyes. "Aww poor baby." She mumbles, her lips jutting out into a mock pout. He scoffs and smiles at her. "I'm gonna shower I'll be out in a bit." 

She nods, her blonde hair bouncing on her shoulders. "Okay, we're watching Friends when you get out."

He walks past her slowly, watching her the whole time. He felt strange for some reason. He felt...wrong. He didn't know why, he just did. 

He closes their bedroom door behind him, and leans his back against it momentarily, taking in a deep strangled breath. He just wants to see something really quick. Nothing is wrong about that.

"Fucking idiot." He grumbled to himself. It was true. He was being dumb. He laid down on his bed, grabbing his laptop from its case and sitting it on his lap.

As he waited for it to start up he knew he had to just get this done and move on. What else could he do? 

He clicked on the Google Chrome icon, and watched his new tab screen load up. His fingers hovered over the keys before eventually spelling it out for themselves. He typed in 'Eleanor Calder Facebook' and waited for stuff to pop up.

He clicked on the first link, leading to a Facebook account with her name. He leaned in a bit, trying to get a good look at the photo before finally just clicking on it.

The photo made itself larger, and his breath caught a hint. It was definitely her. In the photo she had a tight smile on her face and she stood against a white wall. Her hair was curled loosely, falling over her chest perfectly.

It was the eyes he looked at next. She had perfect eyes and he was so pissed off now that he sees he clearly got them so wrong. Obviously not on purpose, but still.

She knew it too, she called him out on it and everything...

He groaned and shoved his laptop off of him and onto the blanket. He stood and reached down near his sidetable drawer. "Fucking eyes. Green fucking eyes." He mumbles, pulling a sheet of paper out of the drawer.

He pulled the folded up drawing out of his pocket and held it up near the computer screen, comparing the two images. He scoffed at himself with disgust.

He then began studying her image and sketching her again, focusing on her eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this story has been planned to only have 6 chapters but who knows.


End file.
